What’s in the McRib Sandwich?

The
McRib sandwich is back, and with it, the horde of cult-like fans of the
McDonald’s pork sandwich.

Despite its name, the McRib sandwich actually contains no rib meat. But
what exactly is it made of?

The Week explains some of the 70 ingredients of the McRib (which you
may want to skip if you’re a fan of the sandwich):

How many ingredients are there?
At face value, the sandwich contains just pork, onions, and pickle slices
slathered in barbecue sauce and laid out on a bun. But the truth is,
there are roughly 70 ingredients. The bun alone contains 34, says
TIME’s Melnick. In addition to chemicals like ammonium sulfate and
polysorbate 80, the most egregious may be azodicarbonamide — "a
flour-bleaching agent most commonly used in the manufactur[ing] of foamed
plastics like gym mats the and soles of shoes." According to McDonald’s
own ingredient
list, the bun also includes calcium sulfate and ethoxylated mono-
and diglycerides, among other chemicals.